Canada's Lizanne Murphy (left) had eight points off the bench and Tamara Tatham had five rebounds and nine points as Canada beat Jamaica 75-37 in their first game at the FIBA Americas Championship for Women in Xalapa, Mexico on Sunday. (file photo)ERIC GAY/The Associated Press
Kimberly Gaucher scored 15 points as Canada's women's basketball team routed Jamaica 75-37 Sunday in its first game at the FIBA Americas Championship for Women.
Canada opened strong, outscoring the Jamaicans 21-7 in the first quarter.
Jamaica came back in the second quarter by finding success in the paint and cut the lead to 33-25 at halftime.
Canada took control of the game with a dominant third quarter, outscoring Jamaica 21-4 to take a 51-29 lead. The Canadians continued to control the game over the final 10 minutes to secure the win.
"I think the most impressive stat after the game was 22 assists on 27 field goals," Canada coach Lisa Thomaidis said. "If anything, I think this team can be a little bit too unselfish. They're willing to make that extra pass for a better shot.
"We got a lot of open looks. In the first half some of them didn't fall for us but by the second we were able to make good on a lot of perimeter shots."
Tamara Tatham had five rebounds and nine points for Canada while Natalie Achonwa, Lizanne Murphy and Kendel Ross each had eight points off the bench.
Player-coach Simone Edwards led Jamaica with 12 points.
Canada faces Chile on Monday. The team needs to finish in the top three in order to qualify for the 2014 FIBA world championship.